Pause for the Cause Update

Posted on August 27, 2018

Dear friends,

As we shared earlier this year, we are taking a “pause for the cause” with Tzedek programming. We want to share more about how we got here, and what is next.

In 2012, Tzedek began as an internship program for two young Jewish adults. Our original goal was to support emerging social justice leaders to skill build for future careers in nonprofit work and to partner with local organizations, specifically to expand their work to incorporate a lens toward LGBTQ rights. Since that time, the Tzedek program grew and transformed. Two interns expanded to a group of five residents and, eventually, to a cohort of eight Fellows. The goal of the program evolved organically, too, as the needs and interests of Fellows changed, so did our social and political landscape. Over time, Tzedek more squarely centered racial justice, alongside LGBTQ equity and combatting anti-Jewish oppression. Our partnerships expanded to grassroots organizations working to create systemic change.

Over the last six years, Tzedek has had the pleasure of working with thirty-three leaders and twelve local organizations. We’ve hosted Lunch & Learns for staff of local non-profits, volunteered to support the work of community-based organizations, responded to threats to our beloved community, and collaborated with 50+ trainers and facilitators to offer the programming Fellows’ identified as most important to their growth.

As the Tzedek program expanded and changed, so too has the Amy Mandel and Katina Rodis Fund’s grantmaking. Early on, AMKRF directed two-thirds of its support to progressive Jewish organizations and one third to LGBT organizations working for social justice. Key areas of funding included leadership development, combating anti-Jewish oppression, racial justice, youth empowerment, and faith-leader-led organizing. In 2016, the Fund’s work shifted substantially as we increasingly utilized an intersectional framework with particular attention to race, class, gender, sexuality and immigration status, to guide our philanthropic giving. Our support for people of color leadership has grown too, as we recognize more fully, the importance of supporting community-based, people of color-led social justice work.

The story of AMKRF and Tzedek is one of growth and evolution, trial and error, steady learning, pivoting as new needs emerge, and deepening our connection to Asheville’s social justice community. In order to have greater impact and to fully live into the values we believe in, our work must be informed by deep strategy and the brilliance of the community of which we are a part.

With the support of Beth Trigg of Taproot Consulting and Tamiko Ambrose Murray of Ambrose Consulting, Tzedek program and grantmaking staff are engaged in a three-part revisioning process. Since March, we have focused on deepening staff relationships, building collective analysis, and creating a shared framework for the research and redesign ahead. Over the next six months, we will complete a community-centered research process so that our future programming and local grantmaking within Western North Carolina, is directly informed by Asheville’s social justice leaders, community organizations, Tzedek alums, and many others. Finally, we will begin a process of redesign and alignment. The Tzedek Fellowship program and the AMKRF will operate from a shared strategy and framework, in order to increase impact and provide increased transparency around our local work.

There is much we do not know yet, including the exact shape of our future programming or the all the ways fund’s strategy will evolve and refine, but this is what we do know. First, moving forward our work will squarely focus on supporting work and leaders that are invested in creating systemic change in Asheville. Second, we are exploring how white supremacy, oppression, power and privilege, show up in the Amy Mandel and Katina Rodis Fund’s and the Tzedek program’s organizational practices, and what a more liberatory organizational culture looks like. We are committed to building that culture. Third, the integrity of our work and our capacity to lead with our values will depend on the strength of both our internal and community relationships.

As our work unfolds, we want to share this process with you, so we will continue to document our work on our website. You can expect to find more information there about what we are doing and what we are learning.

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Applications

Applications for the 2017-2018 cohort of Fellows are closed. We are not accepting applications for the 2018-2019 Fellowship year in order to build a more responsive program, develop more transparent systems, and deeply embody our values.